Core Concepts and Principles Flashcards

Taste sensation from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue travels via the chorda tympani, a branch of which cranial nerve?

Answer: Facial nerve (CN VII)

The chorda tympani carries special taste afferents from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue as part of the facial nerve.

Where do most cases of epistaxis originate?

Answer: Kiesselbach's plexus on the anterior septum

About 90% of nosebleeds arise from Kiesselbach's plexus (Little's area) on the anterior septum.

A patient has a negative Rinne test in the left ear and a Weber test that lateralizes to the left. What is the most likely finding?

Answer: Left conductive hearing loss

Bone conduction louder than air conduction, with Weber lateralizing to the same side, points to conductive loss in that ear.

The recurrent laryngeal nerve supplies every intrinsic laryngeal muscle except which one?

Answer: Cricothyroid

The cricothyroid is supplied by the external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve.

Which muscle is the only abductor of the vocal folds?

Answer: Posterior cricoarytenoid

The posterior cricoarytenoid rotates the arytenoids outward to open the glottis.

Which sinuses drain through the ostiomeatal complex?

Answer: Maxillary, anterior ethmoid, and frontal

The ostiomeatal complex in the middle meatus drains the maxillary, anterior ethmoid, and frontal sinuses.

Which bacterium most commonly causes acute otitis media in children?

Answer: Streptococcus pneumoniae

Streptococcus pneumoniae remains the leading bacterial cause of AOM, ahead of nontypeable H. influenzae and Moraxella.